Citizens for the Republic (CFTR) is an American political action committee founded in 1977 by Ronald Reagan, five months after he narrowly lost his bid for the 1976 Republican Party (GOP) presidential nomination to Gerald Ford The committee was first directed by Reagan aide Lyn Nofziger.
According to the CFTR website, "Reagan took the tired, run-down GOP [of the Ford-Nixon years] and turned it into a vibrant political force which drew sustenance from the millions of conservative Americans who believed in these principles.
In 2009, CFTR was revived by Craig Shirley, a political consultant who has written two best-selling books on the Reagan campaigns of 1976 and 1980.
In June 2013, CFTR announced support for the author and columnist Quin Hillyer, a former press secretary to former U.S. Representative Bob Livingston of Louisiana.
CFTR directors include former Attorney General of the United States Ed Meese, former Reagan policy advisor Peter D. Hannaford, and Mari Maseng Will, former Reagan White House Communications Director, speechwriter and political consultant and wife of columnist George Will.